Shuttle eye assembly



Dec. 22, 1953 R. J. CARRIGAN I SHUTTLE EYE ASSEMBLY Filed Dec. 29, 1951 Ray/77mm J Carr/ya fimey Patented Dec. 22, 1953 SHUTTLE EYE ASSEMBLY Raymond J. C'afii'gam-Thompsbnville, Comu, as-

signor to Bi'gelow-Sanford Carpet Gompany,

- .I'nc., Thompsonville, Golan" a Delaware corporation of I dppljicationbeceniber 29, 1951, Serial No. 264,019

The present invention relates to an improved shuttle eye assembly which is adapted for selfthreading and for rendering shuttle thread drawn from the shuttle, 'and which is particularly adapted for use in a carpet loom of the general type in which the weft yarns are woven in a wet state and under high-tension.

It is a principal object of the invention to provide an im roved shuttle eye assembl which is particularly adapted for theaccurate and emcient handling of wet thread and which will entirely eliminate damaging accumulations of sizing material in the shuttle eye.

It is still another object of the invention to provide for the threading of 'a new bobbin thread into the shuttle eye and the removal of the old bobbin thread in a novel manner to avoid any possible entanglement of the wet threads which might result in the weaving of the old thread with the new into the fabric.

9 Claims. (Cl. 139F223) With these and other objects in view as may hereinafter appear, features of the invention consist in the novel construction and'arrangement of the shuttle eye assembly in' which the overlying thread engaging hook, the downwardly and rearwardly inclined threading surface of the eye assembly, and the thread tensionin'g device of the shuttle are located with relation to one another and are constructed and arranged to operate in a novel and improved manner to locate the yarn inthe normal feeding position under the control of the thread tensioning device.

Another feature of the invention consists in the further arrangement oft'ne tensioning device and of the thread guiding surfaces associated therewith which are effective to cause the severed thread end when withdrawn in the reverse direction from the shuttle to be disengaged from the tensioning device, and thereby to insure the release and withdrawal of the severed thread end attached to the bobbin discharged from the shuttle eye.

The several features of the'invention consist also in the devices, combinations, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed which, together with the advantages to be obtained thereby, will be readily understood by one skilled in the art from thefollowing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a shuttle eye assembly through which yam is being drawn at a tension, the surrounding nose portion of the shuttle being indicated in dotted lines; a

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the-shuttie eye assembly shown in Fig. 1 with fldjaifiht portions of the shuttle casing shown'in dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is an end view looking from the left 0 the shuttle eye assembly as shown in Fig. 1 again with the surrounding portions of the shuttle case ing sectioned and shown in dotted lines; and

Fig. '4' is a fragmentary view otthe eye portion of the shuttle eye unit showing the position of the new thread and the old thread at the be. ginning of the first stroke of the shuttle from left to. right followi'ngthe knocking out of an ex? haustedbobbin and the placing of a new bobbin in the shuttle. J

Referring to the drawings; in which like numerals refer to like parts, the shuttle eye as! sembly illustrated as embodying in a nre'ferrcd form the several-features of the invention come prises a cast lightweight-metal body member 6 which is fitted into a correspondinglyrshabed aperture liormed inthe nose of a shuttle 8 indicated in dotted lines inthe drawing. The nose end of the shuttle only is'shown and is of cone ven i'onal shape beine apered to a point and be+ ing provided rearwardly' of the nose with a bobbin receiv ng aperture 9 which houses a bobbin gem erally in icateclat 10. The-shuttle is provided along the top isuriace theme: with a longitudinally xten ing thr ad rec ivin roove II and along one side th reof with a thre d receivin groove 2 and wi h athre d p ning or perture 3 avin at a h side th reof pin 14 around which the f ed n thread is drawn from the shuttle d p n in upon thedirection or shuttie el. {is best sh wn Fi 1. n perture 5 s p d d inth side of th sh ttle rearwardiy or the thread openin I3, whi h provides'snace or t e ope ti n. of an automa ic c t r utilized o ve t e t r ada tbesem t me that an exau te bobbin is dischar d t am t e huttl Inasmuch aster echani m or au qma ical y changing bobbins in' ;hutt ncluding the automatic-cu t r for. se ering the thread cox n d Wi ht e dis ha e bob in, is Well n the, art f rm specific l no ha bor the invention, no further description or illustration thereof is made herein. r a

The b dy member 5 o t e shutt e e assembly s l at d-in lin hu tle'by me ns' f a nest J5 formed on the underside of the bodymemherfi which n e witha co re p ndin ly farmed re was in he bot m of the shuttle The body her 5 is further'heldin place by two locking screws, not specifically shown, which are arranged to pass transversely throu h the shuttle and through two bores 18 in the lower portion oi thebody member 6. A deep thread guiding slot 22 is formed in the body member 6 running the length thereof. The body member 6 is roughly rectangular in shape but with the left hand end of the rear wall of the slot, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, expanded and shaped to form the eye portion of the assembly. At its left hand end this wall is formed with a thread confining hook 24 which is located beyond the end of and overlying the slot 22. The leading edge of the wall provides a downwardly and rearwardly inclined eye threading surface 26 which terminates in a horizontally undercut thread guiding surface 28 lying in substantially the same horizontal plane with the bottom of the slot 22. Between the inclined surface 26 and the adjacent end of the bottom surface of the slot 22 there is provided a thread guiding post 30 which is supported in the expanded portion of the near wall of the body member 6 and extends depthwise of the slot 22 a substantial distance below the bottom surface thereof. The post supported in this positioned provides a cylindrically turned surface around which the thread indicated at 3| in Figs. 1,2, and 3 feeding from the bobbin ID is drawn through the slot 22 outwardly in a transverse direction through the thread opening l3 in the side of theshuttle during the normal forward and back operation thereof. It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific construction shown and that the cylindrically turned surface provided by the post 30 may be formed in any convenient manner.

A tensioning strain is maintained on the thread passing through the shuttle eye and. around the post 30 by means of a leaf spring 32 supported on edge along the bottom of the slot 22 and secured by a screw bolt 34 to the inner face of the further wall of the slot. At its left hand end the spring 32 is provided with a cylindrically turned thread engaging surface 36 which is parallel to and bears yieldably against the cylindrically turned surface of the post 30 along a vertical line of contact. The lower edge of the cylindrically turned portion 36 of spring 32, which extends beyond the end of the slot 22, is broadened or flanged downwardly a substantial distance below the bottom surface of the slot 22. A set screw 40 threaded through the rear wall of the body member 6 and held in place by a locking nut 42 is arranged for engagement with the shank of the spring member 32 in order to regulate the tension applied against the thread. The rear wall of the slot 22 is formed at its right hand or thread receiving end with a downwardly and forwardly extending flange 44 which serves to trap the feeding yarn in the slot and thereby maintain its passage horizontally along the bottom of the slot. During the normal operation of the shuttle, the thread 3| as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 travels along the bottom of the slot 22 and around the post 30 adjacent the undercut thread guiding surface 28, being firmly engaged between the parallel contacting cylindrically turned surfaces of the post 30 and thread engaging portion 36 of the tensioning spring 32.

It will readily be appreciated that the arrangement of the self-threading and thread tensioning shuttle eye assembly as thus far described provides an extremely compact simple construction in which all of the operating parts concentrated in the eye portion of the unit cooperate in a most efficient manner for the control of the feeding thread. The construction and relative arrangement of vthe downwardly inclined end wall 4 threading surface 26 and of the thread tensioning device supported immediately adjacent thereto consisting of the vertically arranged cylindrical guide surface and associated parallel contacting cylindrically turned spring surface has the specific advantage in a carpet loom where relatively heavy thread tensioning strains are imposed in that the inclined shuttle threading surface 26 acts during the threading operation to exert a powerful downward pull on the thread which causes the thread to be powerfully drawn in a downward direction between the parallel contacting cylindrical surfaces referred to to the normal operating position where the thread is then positively held with relation to the tensioning device by means of the horizontally undercut surface 28 above described. The arrangement of the shuttle eye assembly, including the engaging cylindrical surfaces of the tension device in which these parts are located beyond the end of the thread guiding slot 22, is of advantage also in that very little tendency is encountered for the cylindrical surfaces of the friction device to strip wet sizing material from the feeding yarn or to cause any injurious deposit of such material within the shuttle eye assembly.

Further in accordance with the invention the illustrated shuttle eye unit is constructed and arranged to cause the severed thread end asso ciated with a bobbin being discharged from the shuttle to be moved downwardly so that it is released from engagement between the parallel contacting cylindrical surfaces of the post at and spring 32, and may be withdrawn freely from the shuttle eye unit along a path which will avoid any possibility of entanglement with the thread being drawn through the shuttle eye from a newly loaded bobbin on the first stroke or pick of the shuttle from left to right across the loom.

In order to cause the severed thread end to be disengaged from the thread tensioning device and to be withdrawn from the shuttle in the manner described, the near side of the post 35 is cut away to provide a downwardly and rearwardly inclined surface 50. An adjacent portion of the outer side wall of the body member 6 underlying the horizontally undercut guide surface 28 is sin ilarly cut away at 52 to provide a further extension of the rearwardly inclined surface 59. Both of these inclined surfaces at and 52 are locatedv slightly below the normal position of the thread 3! during the shuttle operation when thread s being drawn outwardly through the shuttle eye assembly as shown, for example, in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

However, when the thread leading to the work is severed, and the severed end is withdrawn rearwardly through the shuttle eye assembly upon ejection of the used-up bobbin from the shuttle, the thread end as indicated at 58 in Fig. 4 tends to become somewhat slack and drops into engagement with the surfaces 55, 52, which thus rendered operative by the rearward pull on the thread from the ejected bobbin to drag that portion of the thread engaging between the pai allel contacting cylindrical surfaces of the spring 32 and post 30 downwardly out of the line of contact with these tensioning elements, thus releasing the tension on the thread 58. As further indicated in Fig. 2, the thread end 58 is new pcsitioned in an aperture or passage 54 provided between the cylindrically turned spring portion 36 and the end of slot 22, and will be withdrawn freely and, without any further obstructioninto disposed beyond the end of and overlying the slot, an eye threading end wall surface inclined downwardly and rearwardly from said hook for threading the shuttle eye assembly, an undercut thread guiding surface forming a continuation of said inclined threading surface lying substantially in the same plane with the bottom of the slot, a cylindrically turned surface having its axis depthwise of the slot'fo-rmed in said wall at the end of the slot and adjacent said undercut surface and extending from above below the bottom surface of the slot for guiding thread from the slot around said cylindrical surface and laterally beneath said undercut surface, and a cylindrical ly turned thread tensioning element yieldably supported from the body member in parallel relation to and having a position of line contact with said cylindrically turned surface extending from above below the bottom of the slot. v

4. A self-threading thread tensioning shuttle eye assembly which comprises a body member having a thread receiving slot along its length with side walls and a bottom thread guiding surface, one of said side walls having an end thereof shaped to, provide a thread confining hook disposed beyond the end of and overlying the slot, an eye threading end wall surface downwardly and rearwardly inclined from said hook for threading the shuttle eye assembly, an under cut thread guiding surface forming a continuation of said inclined threading surface lying, substantially in the same planewith the bottom of the slot, and a post providing a cylindrically turned thread guiding surface with its axis depthwise of the slot in said wall adjacent said undercut thread guiding surfaceat the end of the thread guiding bottom surface of the slot and extending from above below. the bottom surface of the slot for guiding thread laterally from the slot against said'undercut surface, and a thread tensioning device comprising a leaf spring mounted in said body member having a cylindrically turned thread engaging surface parallel with and in yielding line contact with said cylindrical guiding surface from above extending below the level of said undercut surface.

5. A self-threading thread tensioning shuttle eye assembly which comprises a body -member having a thread receiving slot along its length including side walls and a bottom thread guiding surface, an eye threading surface formed in one of said side walls inclined rearwardly and downwardly toward the bottom of said slot, an undercut thread guiding surface forming a continuation of said threading surface lying substantially' in the same plane with the bottom of the slot, a cylindrically turned guide surface in the side wall having said threading and undercut surfaces adjacent said undercut surface with its axis depthwise of the slot and extending from above below the bottom surface of the slot for guiding thread from the slot transversely under said undercut surface, a cylindrically turned thread tensioning element yieldably supported from the body member in parallel relation to and having a line contact with'a portion of'said cylindrically turned surface within the slot extending from above below the bottom of the slot, and a rearwardly inclined thread engaging surface along said wall below said transverse undercut surface at that side of the line of spring contact remote from the slot to engage with and urge below' said line of spring contact a slack, portion of thread withdrawn around said cylindrical surface r i i bes t-m. a

'6. A self-threading thread tensioning shuttle eye assembly which comprises a body member having a thread receiving slot along its length including side walls and a bottom thread guiding surface, one of said side walls having an end thereof shaped to provide a thread confining i hook disposed beyond the end of and overlying the slot, an eye threading surface formed in one of said side walls inclined rearwardly and downwardly toward the bottom of said slot, an under cut thread guiding surface forming a continuation of said threading surface lying substantially in the same plane with the bottom of the slot, a post providing a cylindrically turned thread guiding surface with its axis depthwise of the slot in said wall and extending from above below the bottom surface of the slot for guiding thread from the slot transversely under said undercut surface, a cylindrically turned thread tensioning element yieldably supported from the body member in parallel relation to and having a position of line contact with said cylindrically turned surface within the slot extending from above below the bottom of the slot and providing a free passage for thread past said tensioning element into the slot from beneath and beyond the position of line contact, said post having a downwardly and rearwardly inclined slack thread engaging surface formed in a portion of the post at that side of said line contact remote from the slot and below the level of the undercut surface to engage with and urge slack thread drawn rearwardly around the post and through the slot downwardly beneath said position of line contact.

7. A self-threading thread tensicning shuttle eye assembly which comprises a' body member having a thread receiving slot along its length with side walls, and a bottom thread guiding surface, one of said sidewalls having an end thereof shaped to provide a thread confining hook disposed beyond the end of and overlying the slot, an eye threading end wall surface downwardly and rearwardly inclined from said hook for threading the shuttle eye assembly, an undercut thread guiding surface forming a continuation of said inclined surface lying substantially in the same plane with the bottom of the slot, and a cylindrically turned guide surface with its axis depthwise of the slot formed in said side wall adjacent said undercut surface at the end of the slot extending from above substantially severed end of thread being drawn rearwardly through said eye assembly, and a thread tensioning device comprising a spring element mounted in said body member having a cylindrically turned thread engaging surface parallel to and having a position of line contact with said cylindrical surface extending from above below the level of the bottom surface of said slot.

8. A self-threading thread tensioning shuttle eye assembly which comprises a body member having a thread receiving slot along its length with side walls, and a bottom thread guiding surface, one of said side walls having an end thereof expanded transversely from the slot and shaped to provide a thread confining hook disposed beyond the end of and overlying theslot, an eye threading end wall surface downwardly and rearwardly inclined from said hook for threading the shuttle eye assembly, an undercut thread guiding urfa e. insa cont nua-tion or .saidiinclined threading surface lying substantially in the same plane with the bottom of the slot, and a cylindrically shaped thread guiding surface with its axis depthwise of the slot formed in the expanded portion of said wall adjacent the inclined surface at the end of the slot extending from above substantially below the level of the bottom of the slot for guiding thread from the slot transversely under said undercut surface, and a downwardly and rearwardly inclined thread engaging surface formed in said expanded eye portion of the wall disposed below the level of the bottom of the slot and said undercut surface, a leaf spring supported from the other wall of said slot extending edgewise along the bottom thereof and having a cylindrically turned thread engaging surface parallel to and having position of yieldable line contact with said cylindrically turned surface from above below the level of the bottom of the slot, and a spring adjusting screw mounted in the body member for engagement with the leaf spring for adjusting the tension thereof against the cylindrical surface.

9. A self-threading thread tensioning shuttle eye assembly which comprises a body member having a thread receiving slot along its length with side walls and a bottom thread guiding surface, one of said walls having an eye threading surface forming the end of said side wall inclined rearwardly and downwardly toward the bottom of the slot, an under-cut thread guiding surface forming a continuation of said threading surface lying substantially in the same plane with the bottom of the slot, a cylindrically turned guide surface forming a portion of said side wall with 10 its axis depthwise of the slot adjacent said under-cut surface and extending from above below the bottom surface of the slot for guiding thread from the slot transversely under said under-cut surface, and a leaf spring supported in the slot extending edgewise along the bottom thereof and having a, cylindrically turned thread engaging surface parallel to and having a position of yieldable line contact with said cylindrically turned surface and including downwardly flanged portion of said cylindrically turned thread engaging surface extending from above below the level of the bottom of the slot, and a downwardly and rearwardly inclined slack thread engaging surface formed in said wall below the level of said under-cut surface and at the side of said position of lin contact with the cylindrical thread guiding surface remote from the slot, for urging slack thread drawn rear- Wardly around the post into the slot below said position of line contact of the flanged portion of the leaf spring with said cylindrical guide surface.

RAYMOND J. CARRIGAN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS- Number Name Date 1,064,245 ONeill June 10, 1913 1,710,017 Davol Apr. 23, 1929 1,711,227 Davol Apr. 30, 1929 1,764,710 Baldwin June 17, 1930 1,987,820 Gavriluk Jan. 15, 1935 2,520,311 Gavriluk Aug. 29, 1950 

